Just because the games are meaningless doesn’t mean there isn’t some drama — there are close games and exciting endings in the preseason, too.

Look at the end of the Celtics/Raptors game from Wednesday. After a Celtics bucket on a nice cut and finish by Jared Sullinger, it’s a two point game with 11 seconds to go.

Then in rapid succession we get to see a blown defensive coverage by Boston on the inbounds that should have iced the game for Toronto, a blown wide open dunk by Julyan Stone, then Jordan Crawford trying to win the game for Boston then making what can only be called an ugly decision.

Carlos Morais is not a household name in North America, but he is a large part of the reason Angola has become one of the best teams in Africa. Morais, a point guard, led Angola to the AfroBasket championship this summer and was named tournament MVP averaging 15.9 points per game.

The Toronto Raptors have 14 players with guaranteed contracts in place for next season, meaning that any players they add to the training camp roster beyond that have a very slim chance of actually making the squad.

Nevertheless, the Raptors (like all NBA teams) are bringing in additional bodies to go through the motions, and two names have been recently confirmed, with another yet to be decided.

Not sure if you saw the little tweet thing late Friday from Regina but there will probably be 17 players in camp, 14 with contracts, Julyan Stone, who had some injury problems when they thought about signing him in the summer, Chris Wright and one other still to be determined.

But I didn’t get any indication from anyone on whether or not that means they will go to 15, that is not a certainty.

Stone saw limited action with the Nuggets the past two seasons, but the connection is there in Toronto with the team’s new GM Masai Ujiri, who came over from Denver this summer.

Wright, meanwhile, spent the majority of last season in the D-League, where he averaged 18.3 points and 9.2 rebounds in 39 appearances for the Maine Red Claws.

Here is our regular look around the NBA — links to stories worth reading and notes to check out (stuff that did not get its own post here at PBT) — done in bullet point form. Because bloggers love bullet points.

• There’s a real trend out of New York to try and diffuse the fan frustration over Jeremy Lin leaving by slamming the guy’s game. That included an anonymous source talking to the New York Daily News, which Tom Ziller rightfully called out at SBN. First, a team paying Amare Stoudemire max money can’t complain about injury risks in contracts. Second, leave Lin alone and let your play on the court do the talking. I’m not Raymond Felton’s biggest fan but if you want to argue he’s better today than Lin, go ahead. But all that’s going to matter is how both play starting the last week of October.

• Ivan Johnson destroyed a backboard at the Hawks practice Monday. If you’re looking for a way to force practice to end early…

• Speaking of the Nets, one of the best bits of NBA writing on Sunday was Howard Beck of the New York Times saying Joe Johnson deserves a rest from the “iso-Joe” nickname. He’s right. He didn’t play that way in Phoenix, it wasn’t all isolations until he got in Mike Woodson’s offense in Atlanta.

• One last Nets note: Tyshawn Taylor will not play in Monday’s preseason game due to a quad injury.

• There still is no timetable for Eric Gordon’s return to the Hornets’ lineup. They keep saying he wants to get in some preseason games, but I’m not sold that happens. New Orleans fans should feel a little uncomfortable. Not panicked, but uncomfortable.

• Orlando’s Arron Afflalo is out of the team’s Monday’s preseason game against the Cavs because of a sore hamstring.

• O.J. Mayo had a pretty big cut on his hand, which is why Dallas is saying he went 0-for-7 shooting last preseason game. But he’s not taking time off.

• In a sign he is feeling better, Toronto’s Jonas Valanciunas is no longer wearing a compression sleeve over his calf during practices.

• Denver backup point guard Julyan Stone had hip surgery and likely is not back until January. But with Ty Lawson and Andre Miller in front of him, it’s not like he was going to be getting a lot of minutes anyway, but we wish him the best with his recovery.